Season 9, Episode 10: The Neuroscience of Scent in Experience Design

In this episode, host Helen Bywater-Smith sits down with two leading experts to explore an underutilized yet deeply powerful sensory touchpoint: scent. • Dan Terry Jacobson, Founder of Oola Lab, a craft neuroscent studio that designs fragrances to influence mood, cognition, and emotional balance. • Annamaria Foldes, Head of Mystery Shopping and MSU at Ipsos Switzerland, an expert in retail and luxury execution. Together, they unpack the fascinating science behind olfaction, revealing how bypassing the rational brain to trigger immediate emotional connections can dramatically improve advocacy, satisfaction, and your Return on CX Investment. What You’ll Learn in This Episode: • The Neuroscience of Memory & Emotion: Discover why humans process scent directly within the limbic system, allowing us to recall sensory memories from early childhood with vivid, mouth-watering clarity. • Sensory Branding in Action: Go behind the scenes of real-world experience scripts, including translating Singapore's "Garden City" identity into a signature orchid scent for Changi Airport, using fragrance to truncate the perceived travel time for public transit commuters, and crafting intentionally terrifying aromas for Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights. • Elevating Healthcare, Retail, and the Workplace: Learn how sectors are shifting from clinical sanitisation to holistic wellness; such as how a private hospital successfully utilized outdoor fragrance profiles to transition its brand image from a clinical space to a restorative, hotel-like environment. "When it’s designed well, scent doesn’t shout. It becomes a natural part of the experience, of the environment. And it becomes a brand asset." — Dan Terry Jacobson Whether you are a customer experience professional, an employee experience leader, or a retail design expert, this episode offers vital insights into creating authentic, collaborative, and human-centric spaces that resonate on a biological level.